Meadowbank, 28th December 2002

Bassett Town suffered another defeat at Meadowbank at the hands of Shortwood United, as they lost 1-0 despite a fighting second half performance.

Earlier in the season Bassett had gone out of the F.A. Vase 1-5 at the same ground but this time at least Bassett went down fighting.

With Stu Lamont missing Bassett had Paul Patel as captain for this important match against a side just below them in the table. Bassett were also missing regulars Rob Day and Steve Hale, although the latter was at the match; Bassett bringing in Steve Yeardley, Geoff Swatton and Rich Stevens as replacements.

Both teams were evenly matched in the opening minutes, with both having chances, the best falling to Paul Patel in the 4th minute, but he shot over from the edge of the box following a Geoff Swatton through-ball.

Shortwood had a good attack on 15 minutes but again the chance was squandered.

Shortwood had another good chance in the 21st minute when Rich Evans had a header from ten yards out well saved by Rich Stevens in the Bassett goal. With the home side getting on top the next chance fell to Craig Cole but he shot wide from the edge of the area.

Cole had another chance a minute later but he again shot wide from a Rich Evans through ball.

The Cole and Evans partnership continued to trouble the Bassett defence and in the 34th minute Rich Stevens had to tip over a powerful Evans shot which was hit from thirty yards.

Bassett were again let off four minutes later when Paul Patel deflected a Chris Phillips shot wide for a corner. The resulting corner was then headed over as the home side continued to dominate the match.

Shortwood continued to keep the ball in the final third and had three more good chances before the break; the best falling to Hemming who shot a free kick just wide three minutes before the break.

The first half ended tied at nil-nil despite both teams creating chances, the majority of which were for the home side. Bassett were still in the match at the break, despite a poor first half showing, mainly due to the performance of returning Rich Stevens in the Bassett goal.

Following what must have been a frank half time team talk, Bassett started the second half much brighter and nearly scored a goal just two minutes after the restart when Geoff Swatton curled a shot from the edge of the six yard area inches wide after a great Mark Vaughan ball.

Mark Simpkins then hit a shot from 25 yards just wide in the 51st minute before disaster struck for Bassett.

In the 58th minute Adam Thomas scored for Shortwood what was to be the only goal of the game from a corner which was flicked on at the near post by Chris Greenhough. Once again poor defending from a set piece had resulted in opponents scoring a vital goal.

Bassett immediately started to search for an equaliser and a few good crosses from the wings into the Shortwood danger area unfortunately came to nothing – most of them were scooped up by Shortwood 'keeper Ashley Thomas.

In the 69th minute Bassett had a great opportunity; Nick Tooley fed the ball to Mark Vaughan who put Geoff Swatton through in the clear with an exquisite ball. Swatton through one-on-one with keeper Ashley Thomas hit the shot an inch wide of the far post much to the relief of the home supporters.

This was to prove to be Bassett's best chance of the game.

Bassett made their first change three minutes later when Mark Simpkins was brought off and replaced by Ben Gascoyne.

In the 75th minute Chris Phillips hit over for Shortwood thanks to a last gasp Ben Gascoyne challenge.

Bassett made their second change ten minutes from time when Mark Hammond was brought on for Gary Ashford to give Bassett more attacking options down the right. Bassett also brought Steve Yeardley on for Mark Vaughan in the 87th minute pushing man of the match Allan Pluckrose into midfield for one last throw of the dice.

The final action came in the 93rd minute when Steve Walker was booked for a foul on Allan Pluckrose.

Bassett pushed everyone forward from the resulting free kick, taken on the half way line by keeper Rich Stevens, but it came to nothing.

A disappointing result but a much improved second half performance nearly saw Bassett take a share of the points.

Manager's Man of the Match: Allan Pluckrose.

Scoop's Man of the Match: Allan Pluckrose – he battled hard all game.

Scoop Rating: 6.5/10 – A battling performance to lose by the only goal of the game, a good performance against a good team.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Wednesday 2nd September 2020 at 09:59